Her Christmas Shoes
by Walkinthegarden
Summary: Draco comes across two children while shopping late on Christmas Eve. He helps them buy their mother a parting gift. Little does he know who's children they are. He realizes what family is. *major character death*


Draco waited impatiently in the line at a muggle department store. It was 10:30 on Christmas Eve and all Draco wanted to do was go home to his two beautiful children. He had spent weeks trying to find a china doll his daughter Adele wanted and today was the only day he was able to pick it up. He had been standing in line for over an hour and he had just gotten to the checkout when a boy and girl cut in front of him.

"I'm sorry sir," the girl apologized before looking back to the cashier. Draco was about to protest when he saw the state the children were in. Their cloths and bodies were scrubbed clean, but both had bare feet and no jackets. The boy had a thick sweater with holes and patches with torn jeans and calloused hands, as if he'd spent his life working with them. The girl was dressed in a white turtle neck with sleeves that went to her elbows, a dress that was more patches then dress, with partially healed scars and cuts on her face and arms. Both of the children had minor frostbite between their fingers and a combination of dried and fresh blood on their feet. The boy put a pair of red woman's shoes on the counter before pulling out ten little coins that the boy seemed reluctant to give away. Draco was about to ask if they could hurry when the boy opened his mouth.

"Please Mister, could you please hurry?" he begged, his eyes darting to the clock on the wall.

"Please sir, they're for our mother," the girl offered.

"I'm sorry kids, you don't have enough," the cashier said softly.

"No! There has to be! Please!" the boy shouted as tears started to run down his cheeks. The girl bowed her head, falling to the floor as she started to cry

"What's going on?" Draco asked, fear creeping through his heart.

"Mama's dying," the girl whispered. "Pa said she's going to Jesus tonight." She broke into a new set of tears before looking up at him with big blue eyes. "Mama has no shoes; we want her to look pretty. We want her to know she was a good mama." The boy got out of line and gathered his sister in his arms.

"Let's go say goodbye," he whispered in her ear. Heartbroken, Draco took the missing amount from his pocket and set it on the counter.

"Here," Draco told them as he handed the box to them.

"Thank you so much sir," they both said in a mixture of awe and pure gratefulness. The girl threw her arms around him before turning and fleeing the store with her brother.

"That was a good thing you did there," the cashier said to the blonde man.

o(|] ~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

The first thing Draco did when he woke up Christmas morning was hug his two children and wife. The family sat around the Christmas tree and opened presents when the phone rang. Draco rolled his eyes, his wife had insisted on getting the stupid muggle contraption. Astoria smiled at him as she walked over to the phone.

"Hello?" she greeted as she flashed the kids a smile. "Ginny!" That got the kids attention; they loved their Aunt Ginny, who was a good friend of Astoria. "How are you? How are the kids? They get the gifts we sent?" Draco and the children watched as Astoria's bright smile fell. "Oh God," she whispered, tears in her eyes.

"Astoria, Astoria what is it?" Draco asked as she dropped the phone and buried her face in his hands. He got up and ran to his wife's side. He grabbed her arms, pulling her struggling body close to his chest. After a few minutes, when Astoria's sobs had subsided some, Draco pulled back and brushed her hair out of her face. "Astoria?"

"Hermione," she whispered. Draco waited patiently, for Astoria to continue. Hermione had been Astoria's maid of honor and vice versa, the two were like sisters, however Hermione, her husband, and the kids had been very distant, never coming to visit and refusing visits from everyone except Arthur and Molly. No one had seen them in five years, when their son Hugo was two and Hermione pregnant with other. In fact everyone had been banned from the Burrow because Hermione and the kids were going to be there. "She was sick, that's what she was hiding. She had a blood disorder that isn't curable or treatable. She died last night Draco." Draco felt the whole world stop at that one little word. The children were silent, staring at their parents, listing to the fate of the person they had heard stories about but never met. "Ron and the kids are with his parents, do you think…?" she trailed off.

"Of course," he whispered. He and Astoria were already dressed and they weren't going to bother with dressing the children. They both took a child and flooed to the Burrow. When they stepped out of the fireplace Ginny immediately flew to Astoria and pulled her into a hug while the men parted so Draco could see. Lying on the couch was Hermione's motionless body. Unlike the last time he saw her, she was pale with a hint of gray, her hair had no color and had thinned very much, and her eyes had dark hues and had sunken into her pale face. As he stepped towards her, he heard Molly take the kids to the kitchen. He continued walking till he was right up against the couch. He blinked, staring down at the woman that had become a sister to him. After staring at her for a few minutes, he noticed two children sitting on the floor by her side. The boy had his head resting on the couch cushion, where his mother's shoulder was and the girl was curled up into the side by her mother's hip; the girl's tiny hand was just barely touching her mother's cold one, her eyes were transfixed on it with no sparkle or smile like every child's eyes should be. He blinked when recognition crossed his face, these kids; they were the ones he'd bought the shoes for!

"Happy Christmas in Heaven mama," the boy whispered, though he spoke as if he spoke to no one. Finally Molly and Ginny took the kids while the Weasley men took Hermione's body. Harry and Draco walked over to Ron, who had been leaning against the wall the entire time.

"She died at 11:38 last night. The children got home at 11:30 with a box of shoes for her, said God had sent an angel to them," Ron whispered, refusing to meet either of their eyes.

The day was spent in silence, the adults didn't care to speak, Hugo and Rose didn't want to play preferring to sit by their mother's fresh grave and bath it with poinsettias, and the rest of the children sensed that something was wrong and played quietly amongst themselves. As the sun went down and stars scattered across the sky, they all looked up at a sound. They all trickled outside to see Rose standing by her mother's grave, staring off into the stars.

"Silent night

Holy Night

All is calm

All is bright," she sang, so softly you would have missed it if it wasn't for the dead silence.

"Round youn' virgin

Mother and child…"

"Holy infant so

Tender and mild," Astoria and Ginny joined.

"Sleep in Heavenly peace," they all chimed in.

"Sleep in heavenly peace."

"Happy Christmas Mama," Rose whispered to the grave.


End file.
